''Al Raya'' (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: الراية; also known as ''Arrayah''; ''The Banner'') is an Arabic daily newspaper published in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. It is semi-official newspaper of the country and is one of the five leading Qatari dailies. As for Arabic dailies published in the country ''Al Raya'' is among the three major newspapers along with ''

Al Sharq ''Al Sharq'' (Arabic; الشرق; ''The Orient'') is an Arabic pro-government daily newspaper published in Doha, Qatar. The paper is one of the three leading Arabic newspapers in the country in addition to ''Al Raya'' and '' Al Watan''. History ...

'' and '' Al Watan''.

History and profile

''Al Raya'' was launched by Gulf company for printing and publishing as a

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly new ...

on 10 May 1979. The company which was founded by Ali bin Jaber Al Thani also owns ''

Gulf Times The ''Gulf Times'' newspaper was founded in 1978 as the first publication of the Gulf Publishing and Printing Company in the capital city of Qatar, Doha (or ad-Dawhah). It is one of three English language newspapers in the country (the others be ...

'', an English-language daily. Based in Doha, ''Al Raya'' is the second Arabic newspaper published in Qatar. On 27 January 1980 ''Al Raya'' was relaunched as a daily newspaper. In 1996 a corpus was created which included 187 articles published in ''Al Raya''. On 27 April 2012 the paper launched the mapping mangroves project.

Political stance and content

Although ''Al Raya'' is privately owned, it is the semi-official newspaper of Qatar. Therefore, it has a pro-government stance. The major rival of the daily is another Arabic Qatari newspaper ''Al Sharq'' which has opposite political stance. ''Al Raya'' mostly provides news about the receptions and activities of the ruling family,

Al Thani The House of Thani ( ar, الثاني , translit=Al Thani) is the ruling family of Qatar, with origins tracing back to the Banu Tamim tribal confederation. History and structure The Al Thanis can be traced back to Mudar bin Nizar. The tribe ...

, as well as about official events. In addition, the daily has large supplements on sports and business as well as a special supplement called ''He and She''. The paper offered a weekly page on the

environmental issues Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

from 1999 to 2005. Following the 2013 coup in Egypt, ''Al Raya'' concentrated on the ongoing demonstrations of supporters of

the Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

and ousted President

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012 Assad regime Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

was "useless" and caused no other option than such intervention.

Staff

Nasser Mohamed Al-Othman is the first

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the daily newspaper. In the initial period many leading Arab journalists wrote for the daily. Abdulla Ghanim Al Binali Al Muhannadi is the editor-in-chief of the daily.

Circulation

In the early 1990s ''Al Raya'' had a circulation of 10,000 copies and was distributed in Saudi Arabia and Egypt in addition to its native Qatar. Until 1995 when the other Arabic daily, '' Al Watan'', was launched the paper enjoyed higher levels of circulation, but then lost its one-third of circulation. In 2000 ''Al Raya'' was the second best selling newspaper in Qatar with a circulation of 18,000 copies. The estimated circulation of the paper in 2003 was 8,000 copies. ''Al Rayas circulation increased to 18,000 copies in 2008. The online version of the paper was the 47th most visited website for 2010 in the

MENA region MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raya 1979 establishments in Qatar Arabic-language newspapers Mass media in Doha Newspapers established in 1979 Newspapers published in Qatar Weekly newspapers